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I have not gotten a lot of practice in the last two weeks, due to pain in my hips. Cause - being overweight, being 64, starting a routine of walking every day, tap, senior basketball, arthritis, etc. Sitting on the darn piano bench, or sitting in one place on anything makes the pain worse. So instead of practicing for an hour or so, I have just played the troublesome spots in "Chiapanecas" once or twice, and then played the song through and stopped. I've done this a few times a day, and it's coming along well. I'm trying not to sit too long at one time, or stand too long at one time. Luckily it's summer, so I can do some pool therapy. Next up is "Auld Lang Syne" which I will be starting in a day or so.

Been trying to learn Standing in the need of prayer, and its actually rather hard. I can do the first 2 lines, but once i get to the eight notes on 3rd line it just doesn't come of right and sounds unnatural. I was thinking I have been pushing the wrong keys, but that doesn't seem to be the problem. Still doesn't seem to fit, so either I'm playing it horribly wrong or maybe I'm just doing it too fast.

Almost got the first 2 lines down at least so there's some progress, but its pretty hard compared to earlier songs.

Quagles: Are you counting properly? "One-and-two-and-three-and-four." Make sure the D is sharped and stays sharped at the 1st bar of the 3rd measure all the way to the end of the 2nd bar (up to "but it's."

Quagles, SITNOP is a little tricky at first. But in addition to what marimorimo suggested, try singing the words (even in your head) and it kind of guides the rythm a little bit, until you get a better feel for it.

"Standing in the Need of Prayer" was one of my favorites. I don't remember if I had any problems with it in the beginning - I probably did, since I seem to have problems with everything in the beginning. LOL. It helps to hear what it is supposed to sound like. Do you have the CD with your book? I usually check PianoNoobAlexMan's Youtube videos (they are really good), but in this case he plays it so fast that it's hard to get anything out of it.

Hello everybody. New player here - just bought a keyboard about two weeks ago and decided to use Alfred's ( in part due to the popularity / success I've seen here ) I'll be self-teaching this time around. 6 or so years ago I attempted to play with a teacher for ~6 months, but did not enjoy it at all and had given up. I've got 5 classes left to graduate with a Computer Science bachelors degree from RIT now, and was looking for a new hobby.

I've restarted from the beginning as I've forgotten pretty much everything, but I breezed through the beginning of the first book ( probably much too quickly ) and am working on Scarborough Fair. I've tried to go back and play some of the previous pieces and found that it doesn't go so well, so I'm slowing it down and plan on going back and relearning / polishing all the previous songs as well as recording them all with my new MIDI/usb cable I picked up yesterday.

I would play a song until I could get the notes / rhythm 95% correct and then move on, but I've recently noticed I've been basically ignoring dynamics and pedal. I was just anxious to get by the beginning "boring" songs and move on to something a bit more exciting, which I realize will only hurt me as I move on.

Anyways, sorry for the long post - just thought I'd introduce myself as I'll be around and posting now!

Thanks for tips I think I've tried 100s of times but its just not working out. Whatever tempo I try the sound just doesn't sound natural like it belongs to the song. Am I even pushing the right keys? E and Sharped D. Rest of song is not a problem at all, it just doesn't sound anything like it should. This and Mary Ann is the only songs I just haven't liked at all right now, Alpine Melody was quite enjoyable.

Hanons kind of confuse me at the moment, maybe I'm just too tired to understanding so gonna give Alouette a try.

I had a hard time with Standing...I would play the 8th notes as I have heard that song sung many times..long short long short sort of like a dotted eighth-sixteenth note. also called "swing notes". I just could not do the exact one & 2 &...

I hope your muscles are doing better. I wonder why benches are not padded...its not like all of our behinds are!(snerk)I stuck a pillow on mine!!!!!!I'm in Ohio now. 2 tasty toys to play here but have not had the time to do so.

Here is my "The Entertainer" The book says "not fast" Overall I think it is OK ... I am going to work on evening the tempo and maybe bump it up a notch. Moving on to the last song in the book- "Amazing Grace" This one may take a few weeks, so I will be here awhile longer

Awesome job Carl Mc...Sounded really good. Im almost there. But I have to get through Scarborough Fair first. Its taking longer than I thought lol. But Im getting better and better at it each day. Won't be long now. Measure 9 was really giving me problems but I just worked on that measure over and over again and now it's fine.

Sounded good CarlMc, although I think "not fast" could have been a tad bit faster, you hit all the notes and that's what counts, congrats. I'm looking forward to that one, I've loved that song since I was a kid and the movie (was it The Sting?) came out and I first heard it at the movie theatre.

Quagles : Maybe it's just that the Alfred arrangement for Standing in the Need of Prayer isn't entirely accurate. It's dummied down for beginners like us, after all. Fortunately(?) for me, I'm not familiar with the song, so nothing really felt 'wrong.'

Carl mc: Congrats on The Entertainer! Certainly one of the pieces I'm looking forward to I am also of the opinion you could bump up the speed a bit, though.

I had my lesson a while ago. An amazing thing happened! I played the dreaded "Little Brown Jug" for my teacher, and for the first time ever, my teacher gave me a pass on my first try!! I almost couldn't believe it when she said I played it well and perfectly. I guess that after reading here how notorious LBJ was, I practiced it like crazy XD So now I'm in 'Chiapanecas.' I'm also working on another beginner piece in the Frances Clarke book by Tcherepnin (how do you pronounce these names!?). The technique needed for that book is definitely more complicated than Alfred, but I think it's great for more variety.

Thanks to all for the comments. Since we all agree to bumping the tempo a notch I will work that out.

marimorimoCongrats on your LBJ performance. That is a good one to get a passing grade. Performing that one well will set you up for the next three or four songs.

RomoloScarborough Fair took me awhile also. That measure 9 is a tricky one- your fingers just want to do something different than what is on the page. I really enjoy this one and committed it to memory.

Quagles,I posted SITNOP for someone else several pages back if you want to hear another version. Sometimes hearing it is the best fix. Be sure and say the words when you play this part and note the word the left hand cord falls on. Such as (broth)-(sis)- (me) (oh) (lord) Good luck.

Couldn't find it Carl, but its alright I decided to put it on hold and try to pick it up again once I'm at blow the man down, I'm guessing I might be stuck a while with that with quite the frustration.

Anyways at Kum-ba-yah it says 2nd time both hands 8va? What does it mean? Play both hands 1 octave lower/higher?

I started Auld Lang Syne today. Wow! It's so much easier than the previous three songs. I shouldn't have too much trouble getting this one up to speed.

Some of the songs I've learned recently I feel have really been over my head, and it was like beating a dead horse. I just had to move on, but I plan to come back to them again. In the meantime, it's great to have something that goes a little more easily.

@AC26XP: The books are essentially the same, but people here recommend the All-In-One course because it has it has theory and technique in it too (so it has more pages). The Lesson Book only has that: Lessons. But you can buy the theory and technique books separately. So in that sense, the All-in-One course is the best value. You don't need to work through both of them because the lessons are the same. (Just get a supplementary book)

Well I've moved on from Marines Hymn and Can Can finally, and now I'm working on the dreaded Little Brown Jug in earnest. I've got it pretty much down hands separate, and now I will try to put hands together.

I'm holed up in my office at work playing a lame unweighted keyboard with the volume way way low. It's my only free time! My AIO book at home as "Good People" in it, but the regular lesson book doesn't have that one. So I'm practicing Good People in the few minutes I have at home, and LBJ on my lunch hour. People around here probably think I am a freak, but, well, maybe they'd be right.

Good to hear that you're on to Auld Lang Syne mom3gram. Hope the pain has subsided somewhat.

I think I've hit the point where my patience will be put up to the test, Blow the man down. On paper, it honestly looks much easier than the next easier, and not all that much harder than previous but, its pretty damn hard. I've got the RH down, thats pretty easy, the LH almost down but not up to the right speed. The problem with this song is that its played rather fast, and there's pretty much anywhere you have to use both hands at the same time, which the brain won't adjust to right away it seems.

Not sure how long ill be stuck on this but my guess its gonna a lot longer than any previous ones, gonna feel even better onc I get it down as well.

After that I think ill have to review the theory again, I still cannot read the bass line properly at all it just seems so confusing to me. And I even had big problems figuring out the keys in Michael row the boat ashore.

I know exactly what you are talking about and how you feel...Blow the Man Down was very difficult for me too. It was probably the first piece that I found fairly difficult and the first piece that took a while to learn and master. But trust me, keep practicing and your hands will soon do what they're supposed to at a fast speed. And once you do get it, you'll be so proud and you'll want to play it over and over again

I also understand what you mean about not being able to read the bass line properly. I remember when I was at that piece, I had trouble reading the bass line too. It didn't click like the RH staff did. But again, trust me, as you move on in the book, you'll get more practice working on the bass clef notes and you'll be able to read them instantly. I actually went back and did the lessons for the LH over again after finishing Blow the Man Down and it helped.

The trick with Blow the Man Down or with any piece that seems difficult is just to practice it over and over again at a very slow speed, slow enough where you are hitting the right notes all the time. Then slowly increase your speed. The next day, you'll be able to play it as your brain will have had time to register what you practiced the day before.

I'm with Romolo, Blow the Man Down is generally a challenge for all of us once we get there. But something happens with that piece and your brain starts to learn how to do something new, and just when you think you'll never be able to get it, you nail it and do indeed feel proud of your accomplishment. Just be patient, don't let it frustrate you, those that are past that song have all struggled (at least I don't think I've EVER read anyone say that it wasn't a big challenge). But I also don't think I've ever read anyone say that they just couldn't get it, it comes around for all of us eventually. Good Luck!

I'm officially up to Good People, then its on to LBJ, not sure yet if I'm anticipating or dreading it, lol.

I have a super quick question. Thing is that I keep messing up with the counting. I can play the song fairly good without counting but my teacher told me that counting is really important later on. So is there anyway to improve the counting? Thanks.

Yes, counting is important not just later on, but even earlier. The sooner you get used to counting, the better. The only way to improve the counting is...to count!! Do it at the very start of the piece, counting very slowly... then when you get the hang of it, use a metronome (do you have one?) to check if you're keeping exactly to the beat.